Culture / Communications

Company culture plays a vital role in attracting and retaining top talent. But does culture take care of itself? If we “do the right thing” on a day to day basis, will our employees get the message? Surprisingly, the answer is “often not”.
What are you doing to assure a clear delivery of your business’ purpose, values and culture? How likely is it that your employees would give the same definition of company culture as would you? Notably, management thinks the message is transparent, while staff may not:
There are 5 key steps in the change management model which are as follows:

Employees’ relationships with their managers can have tremendous influence on real versus desired cultures.

Community affairs, volunteerism, and charitable works are frequently overlooked methods of communicating and demonstrating values.

Who are your employees and do they “get” who you are (your desired Company Culture)? Studies show that most people enjoy belonging to something bigger than themselves. They may even forego a percentage (5-10%) of their total compensation to work for socially responsible organizations. More than all this, however, is the critical importance of “keeping promises”. Do people working for your company enjoy job responsibilities they thought they’d have? Do they experience the company culture as you described when they were being recruited? If not, they may feel that their “Talent Contract” (Ready, Hill, and Conger, HBR, November 2008) has been violated, leading to disengagement. Talent Connections can help you assess the cultural landscape of your organization and build a positive, constructive plan for dealing with gaps between current and desired experiences.